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English stables for a second career in France ,” explains Nicolas . “ I knew the horse and I had good information on him . He had a very good pedigree but he had been gelded and he was difficult . We bought him and that was that . We had to understand him . Marine ( Henry , former trainer , partner and Nicolas ’ s partner at the stable ) went out to ride him for days in the forest , until he got better , until he got his taste for it all back . We took him to Cagnes and he won his quinté handicap , my second , at 68 / 1 .” Zack Hope ran 68 times afterwards , winning thirteen times and earning nearly € 600,000 until his retirement in October 2018 ... The Caullery stable has changed a lot since the acquisition of Zack Hope . It entered the French top 30 in its fifth year , in 2015 , and the top 20 in 2023 , generally with 75 to 85 horses a year - Nicolas has 60 boxes in Elie Lellouche ’ s former stable - more than 40 wins a year in good seasons , and it has exceeded one million , even one and a half million euros since 2022 , at each accounting period . Last year , for the second time in three years , the stable climbed onto the podium in the trainers ’ championship by earnings in handicaps with € 1.15 million in earnings in this category . The handicaps that his horses accumulate remain major drivers of publicity for mid-level stables , but it is through two other channels that Nicolas Caullery has been able to make a name for himself : firstly , for a certain inclination for all-weather racing , and secondly , through his successful raids in Dubai . The success of his horses on all-weather tracks was so significant that he feared , at one point , being pigeonholed in this niche , to the exclusion of others . People like to hand out labels , and they are sometimes as tough as a plaster stuck to Captain Haddock ’ s sole . But the victories of King Gold , Fort Payne ( the Prix du Palais-Royal - Gr . 3 ), Batwan and of course the excellent Kennella , 3 rd in the Poule d ’ Essai des Pouliches ( French 1,000-Gr . 1 ) in 2021 , have proved that the stable also knows how to , in Nicolas ’ s own words , “ train Group horses as you train racehorses .” The fact remains that the supply channels for Group horses are not the same as those for handicap horses . “ The aim of my owners , most of the time ,” says Nicolas , “ is to enjoy themselves , to win a few races , and especially handicaps , because they always have a special flavour . My job is to find the horses for that , and to prepare them for those objectives , to give them a second life . Each horse has its own career , its own history and its own abilities . You have to manage all that on a case-by-case basis , and we have proved that with small horses , we can achieve good things .”
Dare to try Not content with this routine , which is by no means monotonous , however , as this à la carte training takes a lot of time and involves risks , Nicolas Caullery discovered another world when he went to Dubai for the first time in 2014 ... “ I looked at the programmes and the horses and I promised myself I would go back there with my own ones ,” he recalls . “ I then got Golden Wood for Christian Wingtans . And I thought there was a programme for him there . We took a chance , and we won , but I could have been taken for a madman at that point , because we often tend to convince ourselves that it ’ s too hard , but that ’ s not my way of being or my way of doing things . I ’ m not afraid to try things , to explore . The Dubai organisation played along straight away , by the way . We went back there with other horses in addition to him , who won again , and since then I ’ ve been going there every year . Marine stays there and it ’ s as if I were there . We work in a relationship of trust , and it ’ s a great opportunity to be able to organise ourselves like that . I can go and do what needs to be done here in France in the meantime .” With his tanned face , which is now his winter signature along with his big white teeth and long hair , Nicolas Caullery is now preparing , with Marine Henry , for the big Meydan meetings , namely Super Saturday and then Dubai World Cup night .
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